Since the 1990s I’ve been thinking about how we work as humans, and how that influences our behaviour as individuals and groups, and how that in turn influences the paths along which we develop. It is the reason I spent 3 years studying psychology and neuroscience, aiming to do better at understanding of myself, and of us! Since then I’ve had the rare privilege of working and living across the globe, in multiple countries, in different cultures. As an Antarctic and Arctic researcher, as a Canadian ski bum and mountain lodge manager, as a purveyor of Edinburgh’s finest outdoor Equipment. I write this first paragraph to set a stage – to say ‘hey, I didn’t pull this out of a hat yesterday. I’ve seen some stuff’.
Honestly, even if anyone did just pull this one out yesterday, it’s still a good idea…
What is FLSTP?
FLSTP (pronounced full stop) is an acronym for a pair of phenomena:
Fastest / Loudest
..,.and:
Same Ten People
Both are related phenomena that happen whenever people meet.
Fastest / Loudest refers to the prevalence of people who are fastest to respond and loudest to be heard – to take up space and appear to hold sway in an audience. It’s another way of expressing a phenomenon called winning the caucus (see this excellent writeup)- in which the first person to speak holds the floor. It also leads to interruption – everyone edging into a small window of space in which the floor can be held.
Because we reward this behaviour in business and research and community meetings, it continues.
Same Ten People is the phenomena where the same voices are repeatedly heard – people who are good at claiming and holding space, are rewarded for doing so, and so edge out other voices. You see this in action on multiple scales and in multiple forums – if you pick a field of research at random, for instance, you might find just a few people highlighted. Does that mean only those folk are experts? Or that they are better experts? Maybe, and often not – they’re just the loudest and fastest.
Because we reward those same voices, they’re all we ever hear.
Why is FLSTP a FuLl SToP?
Whenever we limit our options, we limit ourselves.
That one sentence is pretty much all of it – however I can hear you want more detail!
Imagine you’re in a meeting about …anything. You’ve just made a proposal and you can see Aaron has something to say, however Annabel jumps straight into the space and starts talking – and doesn’t let up. She speaks loudly and confidently, and a lot – and doesn’t provide space for anyone else. You then need to move the agenda on, having not heard anyone else in the time available. At the next meeting, the same thing happens, and so on. Annabel is never reminded that ‘hey, maybe other people want to speak’; instead she is intrinsically rewarded (this works! I am shaping the world!), and also extrinsically rewarded (Annabel is a great contributor!).
The story above, in real life, is most commonly gender-swapped. Annabel will start to speak and Aaron will confidently stride on in. I wanted to reflect a little of my own experience, while acknowledging overwhelming statistical norms and recognising how people are trained to behave – to get ahead, interrupt.
In this scenario, the issue is that nobody else is heard. Or they need to resort to other channels which are not taken as seriously. Or they may become frustrated! What also happens is that people see the extrinsic rewards for this behaviour, and follow suit. In turn, this means… more people interrupt. If you’re not comfortable interrupting, the message is “your ideas don’t matter“.
The net effect is that we limit the diversity of input we have into decision making, limiting our possible actions and then limiting the possible impacts we can have on whatever issue we’re discussing.
Our ability to effectively deliver a workplace culture that works for everyone is at a full stop.
How to recover from a FLSTP
Every critcism must come with a proposal to do better. Fortunately, recovering from a FLSTP scenario has been done. We know how to do it, the recipe exists and has been proven many times.
The one line summary is actively curate meetings.
The few lines explanation is shut down interruptions, limit speaking time, allow space to gather thoughts, actively seek out views. This means changing meeting culture. Setting and enforcing expectations about how we behave in meetings, and ensuring that expectations are set and met, every time.
Use a moderator: this can be the meeting chair, or a facilitator dedicated to a moderation role. The moderator needs to have a timer of some kind on hand, and is empowered to stop anyone from speaking when their time is up. It is an excellent role for people who are great at interjecting! Use those fastest loudest talents – redirect them into purpose.
Set expectations: spend a couple of minutes at the start of the meeting to explain the rules – if you want to speak, raise a hand – a moderator will triage you. Don’t interrupt. Speak for no more than 2 minutes. If you’ve spoken on a topic, avoid speaking on it again this meeting. Allow space to gather yourself before speaking. The moderator will also actively ask people who haven’t spoken if they have something to say. Gain consensus and consent on this – if someone has a problem with it, stop the meeting until it is solved. Ask people to leave if they cannot do this.
Actively moderate the meeting: go forth! A chair has to keep time, a moderator has to triage discussion. Always follow up – if 3 people have raised a hand on an agenda item, get all of their inpt before moving on subject to the expectations set above. If someone is taking up too much space the moderator is the only person empowered to interrupt. If another person starts to interrupt, stop the meeting until they settle down, and give the floor to the original speaker to use up their space. Do not adjust timeframes – actively discourage jumping in by moving items to the next meeting if you spend the whole time telling people to step back.
Disallow “I just want to add…” commentary: if a person has spoken on a matter, that is their shot. Gather all input and move on. This one feels really harsh! The aim here is to encourage depth of discussion over lots of discussion. If you’re in a place used rewarding FLSTP behaviour, this is a key element to discouraging gaming of the system. I’ve seen this play out – people who are used to taking up space will try any means in the system to continue to do so. This is one way of unrewarding that behavior. People can have their next say after the whole group response is considered.
In an open discussion, pick people: the moderater keeps tabs on who has been silent and asks them to speak first if there’s time for general discussion at the end.
Create space: I attended a meeting in New Caledonia where the norm was once you have the floor, to take a moment. Breathe. Gather yourself. This was explained as Pasifika culture, a sign of respect to everyone attending, that we take the time to consider our message and ensure it is delivered well. Allow yourself, and others, that time to check in. Allow silence.
Be the change: you are responsible for your own behaviour – moderate yourself. Allow space. Look around the room, set your own timer and observe it (stop when it runs out!). Internalise the principles laid out above.
Whenever we bring people together, do not waste their time by ignoring their potential to contribute.
Is this all a bit barnehage?
Well, we use the tools we need for the cohort we have. Barnehage is Norwegian for kindergarten, if you didn’t already google it. The liter”al translation to English is “child yard”, which seems appropriately unadorned (no window dressing about being a garden…).
In other words, yes it is. You’re used to free flowing meetings and interactions that feel dynamic and productive. Unfortunately, they’re not – it’s just a social gathering between extroverts and at worst are actively harmful toward the goals of an enterprise or organisation, because the full stack of available expertise is not used, people feel undervalued, and people disengage
Which is an expensive pain in the ass.
The way out of the barnehage is to be the change – be respectful, resourceful people. Resist FLSTP behaviour and do something better. Because honestly, FLSTP is just barnehage behaviour that isn’t grown out of yet.
Once everyone is onboard with better meeting strategies, it doesn’t feel so constrained – the difficult part is the change. Once we are the change, it becomes natural.
All the things suggested look like lot of barnehage management too. What’s a better way to lead behavioural change?
The last suggestion in the list above is the most important: be the change. If we are able to moderate ourselves and take onboard the importance of allowing every voice to be heard, problem solved!
If you’re used to taking the floor, step back. Speak once, speak well, speak with impact. Let the rest go.
If you’re running a meeting, prepare the ground. Communicate well ahead about what you are going to do and why. Co opt people who are confident at interjecting to be moderators, use the skills you have in the toolkit. Overtly model the behaviour yourself, make it obvious! Vocalise things like ‘my time us up lets move on’. Call on people who haven’t spoken.
If you need to, hire a 3rd party to facilitate meetings for a while, frame it as professional development for everyone (leadership included). Make it an ‘all in’ practice.
Where have you seen these practices implemented? And where have you applied them?
…in a few places. When I was a ski lift operator 22 years ago. When I worked as a hiking guide 18 years ago. In Antarctica on some well-run research voyages. In a military strategy workshop I attended as a civilian geospatial SME. In open source communities. And even in a science workshop – where I was co-facilitator and we had time to get everyone on board. We had really great feedback about what we did – except for one responder, whose demographics I leave you to guess because they fit the norms. In every group I led through the overland track as a guide, in the bike mechanic workshop… I hope that’s enougn!
I have some real problem people who just won’t…
I’d love to say here well just kick them out and make it a professional development issue! I mean sure, if you have that power. Being kind isn’t the same as never upsetting anyone. I haven’t ever had the ability to do it that way, however I have had the experience of staring down some pretty established players who were grumpy that things were not done their usual way. It is not easy, and never will be.
I’d strongly recommend all of this practice is worked on with upstream support, so that when you start you have support higher up. If you can’t get that, it’s just going to take time and be imperfect. I know from experience that trying to do change all at once may end up in you being bundled out of an organisation. To use a cliche, don’t let perfection become the enemy of small gains where you can get them. Be more patient than I am.
Change can be extremely hard. And is extremely worth it.
Some general wrap up thoughts
I’ve generally (not always) observed a reduction in FLSTP behaviour in frontline operations teams, where things go wrong really quick and the consequences can be large. Sometimes in those scenarios you can’t avoid having something to say – you’ll be relentessly pursued for your input because it is all valued! The thing is though, everything we do matters – and in that case our input about what we do matters – whether we are at the literally bleeding edge (someone might die) or pushing buttons in an office for our whole lives because that’s where our best contribution is. If you’re thinking ‘ah we’re just doing officethings and don’t need to be so serious’ – you’re still professionals at work. Run interactions well, avoid running your enterprise as a reaction to FLSTP.
This does not mean you can’t have fun.
If we’re in leadership roles, we need to hold that in mind. It is our job to gather the best and broadest views, using all the expertise we have at our disposal. A FLSTP approach limits our view, limits our choice of possible actions, undermines our effectiveness. The approaches given above outline ways to solicit the best set of inputs from your team of professionals.
My experience tells me that it can be very difficult to break the pattern – I’ve been rejected as a leader for trying to implement something other than a FLSTP approach. The organisation has to be ready – and you need to be ready to walk away if the organisation wants to stay in it’s FLSTP state.
And finally – I wish you all the best in your endeavours to change – and do better at meetings and workshops. I hope what I’ve written here helps you succeed. And I hope to never have to sit in another meeting where interruption and generally disrespectful behaviour is the norm again!
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